Flood-prone villages to be relocated: CM

All flood-prone villages along the Ganga and its tributaries will be relocated and a proposal in this regard will soon be put before the state cabinet for its approval, chief minister Harish Rawat has said.

All flood-prone villages along the Ganga and its tributaries will be relocated and a proposal in this regard will soon be put before the state cabinet for its approval, chief minister Harish Rawat has said.

The state government conceived the proposal after most localities on the Ganga and its offshoots were ravaged by the June 2013 deluge.

“Under the proposed scheme, all flood-prone villages on the Ganga and its tributaries would be relocated to safer areas,” said Surendra Kumar, the chief minister’s media in-charge. Officials are working on the proposal for the rehabilitation of flood-prone villages after the chief minister’s announcement on Sunday, Kumar said.

He told HT that the move to shift the flood-prone villages had been initiated in view of the monsoon season, only a month away. “The project proposed by the chief minister is different from the scheme under which 300 villages ravaged by the 2013 floods were proposed to be relocated to safer areas.”

The villages were to be shifted under a centrally funded scheme. “All 300 villages would be shifted to either the areas falling in reserve forests or to lands lying unproductive,” Union environment and forest minister Jayanthi Natrajan had announced here after the rain tragedy.

Kumar admitted that the project for relocation of 300 villages was yet to take off. “They are ignoring the projects relating to the state,” he said referring to the centre.

Kumar said the state government would continue pursuing for central funds for the scheme announced by the CM for relocation of flood-prone villages. “We won’t stop making efforts…In fact, we will lobby with all the five BJP MPs representing the state to persuade the Centre to release funds for the scheme announced by the CM,” he said.